Benjamin f



B. F. OREWILER. HOOK FOB HOOK AND EYE FASTENING.

No. s07,|a9. Patented July 12, I898.

(Application filed May 9, 1896.)

(No Model.)

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BENJAMIN F. OREWILER, OF SHELBY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMESOURRIE, OF SAME PLACE.

HOOK FOR HOOK-AND-EYE FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 607,189, dated July12, 1898.

Application filed May 9, 1896. Serial No. 590,905. (No model.)

To (0 whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. OREWILER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Shelby, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio,have in vented a new and useful Hook and Eye, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to garment-fasteners of the hook-and-eye type, andparticularly to the construction of a hook adapted for engaging an eyeof the ordinary form, the object in view being to provide acomparatively flat hook projectingbut slightly from the plane of itsshank or base, and hence but slightly from the surface of the garment towhich it is attached; to provide such means for holding the eye inengagement with the hook as will prevent accidental displacement,butwill permit the manual engagement and disengagement of the eye withfacility; to provide aplural spring elasticity as a means of maintainingthe holding-tongue yieldingly in its normal position and as a means ofpermitting the forcible flattening of the hook members without injuringthe same or destroying the elasticity of its parts; to provide ayielding connection between the shank of the hook and the attaching-eyeswhereby outward strain of I the butt or seat of the hook is permittedwithout the risk of tearing or otherwise injuring the garment to whichthe hook is attached, and, furthermore, to provide a holding-tongue ofsuch a construction as to possess lateral elasticityparallel with theplane of the shank, whereby the members of the hook-bill are heldlaterally in contact to prevent the introduetion of the cooperating eyebetween said members, and also to provide for manually deflecting andstraining the holding-tongue out of its normal position to release theeye. Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description, and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. a

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a hook constructed inaccordance with my invention, with an eye engaged therewith, the samebeing shown attached to the parts of a garment. Fig. 2is a side view'ofthe same.

Fig. is an inverted plan View of the hook.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central section of the hook.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings.

The eye 1, which is illustrated in the drawings, is of the ordinaryconstruction, with its attaching-loops 1 arranged out of transversealinement for a purpose well known in the art, and for engagement withsaid eye I provide ahook 2, of which the essential parts are a shank 3,a hook-bill at, and a holding-tongue 5. The hook is constructed of asingle blank of spring-wire doubled upon itself at its center to form alooped tongue 5, of which the sides or members converge toward a pointof contact at the bill 4, and this loop exerts a lateral spring tendencyor elasticity by which the front extremities of the hook-bill membersare held in close contact to prevent the introduction of the wire of theeye 1 therebetween by accident. From the point of contact at 4 themembers of the hook diverge and connect with the parallel spaced memhere3 of the shank by means of loops which are disposed perpendicularly withrelation to the plane of the shank and have a spring action designed toresist movement of the bill 4c perpendicularly either toward or from theplane of the shank. Obviously the rearward spreading of the members ofthe hook strengthens the same laterally or in a plane parallel with theshank, and at the same time the lateral spacing of the shank members 3provides a broad base for the hook to prevent the rolling or turningthereof in use. Said perpendicularly-disposed loops by which the hookmembers are connected with the shank members form seats at the butt ofthe hook to receive the eye 1, and these perpendicular loops are spacedapart a distance equal to the width of the free looped end of the tongue5, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, to provide for the freevertical movement of said looped end of the tongue between the membersof the hook at the butt thereof. After the sides of the loop formed bythe blank have been extended forwardly to the transverse plane of thebill 4 they are bent outwardly in the plane of the shank members 3 toform attaching-loops G, of which the open sides face inwardl y or towardthe shank members and are closed thereby. This arrangement of theattaching-loops has numerous advantages, among which maybe mentioned thefact that it increases the transverse extent of the base of the hook,and thus still further guards against lateral rolling or turning of thehook in use. It will be noted, however, that the attaching-loops I3 donot project laterally from the shank, but are formed as extensions ofthe shank members, and hence are connected with the ends of the shankmembers, whereby a swinging movement of the entire body of the hook,including its shank members, is possible in opposition to the torsionalresistance of the foremost attaching-loops at the points where saidloops merge into the shank members. This yielding attachment of the hookadapts it to swing perpendicular to the plane of its shank when strainedoutwardly from the garment to which it is attached, and thus avoidsbreaking the stitches or tearing the material of the garment.

As hereinbefore described, the shank members are connected with the billmembers by loops disposed perpendicular to the plane of the shank andadapted to yield in planes perpendicular to that of the shank, wherebymovement of the bill members, perpendicular to the plane of the shank ispossible; but in addition to this the tongue members are connected withthe bill members by loops disposed perpendicular to the plane of theshank, and hence are also capable of a yielding movement perpendicularto the plane of the shank, whereby when the tongue is strained upwardlythe hook is capable of yielding both at the front and rear ends of thebill members. In order to allow space for the tongue to yield verticallyand independently of the bill members, the tongue members are deflecteddownwardly at an angle from the transverse plane of the bill membersuntil they reach a point approximately in the plane of the uppersurfaces of the shank m embers, thereby closing the throat of thehook-seat. From this depressed point the tongue members incline upwardlyand forwardly and terminate in the above-described tongue-loop in theplane of the bill members and at the foremost point of the hook betweenthe perpendicular loops by which the bill members are connected with theshank members. In other words, the tongue from its most depressed point,approximately at the center of its length, is inclined upwardly bothtoward the front and rear ends of its members, whereby in engaging aneye 1 with the hook said eye passes between the plane of the frontinclined portions of the tongue and the plane of the shank, and therebyelevates the tongue, and also, if necessary, the front ends of the billmembers, until the eye passes the depressed intermediate portion of thetongue. After passing this point the eye reaches the seats at the rearend of the hook and the tongue returns to its normal position to closethe throats of the seats. Obviously an attempt to disengage the eye fromthe hook will be re sisted by the tension of the spring-tongue; but thedisplacement of said tongue may be accomplished by backing the eye underthe upwardly and rearwardly inclined portion of the tongue, and thusraising the latter in opposition to the resistance o'lfered thereby.Furthermore, in case it is desired to disengage the eye more easily thanby backing the same under the inclined portion of the holding-tongue thefree looped end of said tongue may be elevated manually by inserting theend of the finger thereunder, said looped end being exposed between thedeflected buttends of the bill members, and it will be seen that thislooped free end of the tongue is in rear of the path of the eye as it isdisengaged from the hook, and thus may be held elevated until the eyehas been backed a sufficient distance to pass the deflectedintermediatepoints of the tongue members.

As hereinbefore described,the sides or members of the tongue lie betweenthe perpendicular planes of the shank members thro u ghout theirlengths, whereby depression of the hook, as by a force applied in adirection perpendicular to the plane of the shank, will force thedeflected portions of the tongue members downwardly between the shankmembers without in anyway affecting the elasticity of the structure ordisarrangin g any of its members and also without resulting in anyinjury to the fabric to which the hook is attached. In addition to thisfact an advantage of this construction resides in the fact that thedeflected portions of the tongue member are adapted to normally occupy aposition slightly below the outer surface of the shank members, and thusinsure a compactness of the hook, while not offering too greatresistance to the introduction or disengagement of the eye. Forinstance, in engaging the eye with the hook an angular position of theformer will cause its rounded end to pass down between the perpendicularplanes of the shank members, and thus under the deflected portions ofthe tongue members, without causing a material deflection of the latter.

The most important feature of the described construction resides in thefact that the tongue is practically held in its normal position by adouble spring action provided in the first place by the perpendiculareontiguous loops at the front end of the bill and the spacedperpendicular loops located at tho butts of the bill members and formingthe connection between said bill members and the shank members, whereasthe front ends of the bill members are held laterallyin contact by thespring action of the transverse loop at the free end of the tongue. Itwill also be seen that when the front ends of the bill members aredepressed in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the shank membersthe downwardly deflected intermediate portions of the tongue memberswill come in IIO contact with the surface upon which the shank membersare arranged and will limit said depression of the bill members beforethe front extremities of the latter reach a point in the plane of theshank members, and hence said front ends of the bill members will alwaysbe sufficiently above the plane of the shank members to allow theintroduction thereunder of an eye. In other words, the downwarddeflection of the tongue members serves to strengthen the hook against acrushing force, and hence prevents such a force, unless unusuallysevere, from destroying the usefulness of the book.

It is obvious that various changes in the form, proportion, and theminor details of construction may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- 1. A hook forgarment-fasteners having shank members arranged in a common plane andprovided with attaching-loops,forwardlyconvergent bill members connectedrespectively with the shank-members by yielding loops perpendicular tothe plane of the shank members, tongue members respectively connectedwith the bill members by yieldingloops perpendicular to the plane of theshank members, and connected at the opposite end by a transverse loop bywhich the front ends of the bill members are yieldingly held in lateralcontact, substantially as specified.

2. Ahook for garment-fasteners havingparallel spaced shank membersprovided with attaching loops, forwardlyconvergent bill membersrespectively connected with the shank members by yielding loopsperpendicular to the plane of the shank members, the front ends of thebill members being in lateral contact, rearwardly divergent tonguemembers arranged between the planes of the bill members and shankmembers and respectively connected with the bill members by yieldingloops arranged perpendicular to the plane of the shank members, the rearends of the tongue members being connected by a transverse yielding looparranged between the perpendicular planes of the loops at the rear endsof the bill members, and manually accessible between said loops, saidtransverse loop being laterally yielding to normally hold the front endsof the bill members in lateral contact, and the tongue members beingdefiected at intermediate points toward the plane of the shank members,and occupying positions between the perpendicular planes of said shankmembers, for depression therebetween, substantially as specified.

3. A hook for garment-fasteners constructed of a single blankofspring-wire, doubled upon itself at its center to form a looped holdin acommon transverse plane; having said tongue members folded uponthemselves to form parallel loops perpendicular to the plane of thetongue-loop, and extended rearwardly and divergently to form billmembers of which the rear ends are spaced apart a distance equal to thewidth of the rear end of said tongueloop; having said bill membersfolded upon themselves to form loops perpendicular to the plane of thefirst-named transverse loop, and extended forwardly to form parallelspaced shank members; and having said shank members folded uponthemselves, outwardly, to form attaohing-loops,in the plane of the shankmembers, the open sides of the attachingloops being disposed to faceinwardly or toward the shank-members, and said shank members beingcapable of swinging movement perpendicular to the plane of theattaching-loops and opposed by the torsional elasticity of the wireblank at the points of connection of the shank members with-theattaching-loops, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. OREWILER.

\Vitnesses:

J AMES CURRIE, NELLIE FLETCHER.

